Size: 240 acres

Population: 32 families / 166 people

Established: 2009

History:

In July 2007, a group of thirty-eight farmers in Santa Barbara began to organize themselves, tired of having to migrate from place to place in search of land to work. A neighboring land owner told the group about a local organization that helps farmers obtain agricultural land, but after nearly two years and many visits to their office in Tegucigalpa, the organization never came through, and the group began to lose hope. They continued to grow corn for subsistence on borrowed land from their generous neighbor, but still had to travel far distances to work as day laborers to earn money for their families’ basic needs.

Meanwhile, Agros Honduras staff was partnering with Mennonite organization CASM to provide services to families living in extreme poverty and substandard conditions in “Los Bordos.” Los Bordos includes the slums on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula that about 20,000 people who have been displaced by poverty, lack of land, and/or Hurricane Mitch, call home. Some used to live as farmers in the countryside, and when they heard of opportunity for land with Agros decided to learn more.

In February 2008 the Santa Barbara group, also known as the Montañita community, first heard of Agros through friends and relatives living in the newest Agros Honduras community Achotales, just a mile away. After a unanimous decision to move forward with Agros, the Montañita families agreed to attend a meeting facilitated by Agros Honduras staff with the Los Bordos families in the summer of 2009. Following a successful meeting and just about one month searching for land, Agros Honduras’ fourth community was approved in September 2009.

The community has flourished on the land with coffee being an especially strong crop for Bella Vista.

Learn more about one Bella Vista family.

Current Information

Each year, the community works through a parcicipatory process to set a plan for what they hope to achieve. These plans are completed by July 1 of each year and updates provided in October, January, and April.